Thawing material in cars



A. M. ALVORD.

THAW! N G MATERIAL l N CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I. 1918.

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Nm u W A. IVI. ALVORD.

THAWING MATERIAL IN CARS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 7, I9I8.

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UNITED STATES rATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR M. ALVORD, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TOALVORD ANDSWIFT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

THAWING MATERIAL IN CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent-ed Nov. a, 1920.

Application filed March 7, 1918. Serial No. 221,043.

To all fui/tom muy concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR M. Anvonn, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Rochelle, in the county of lVestchester, State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful improvements in ThawingMaterials in Cars; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

The present invention relates to improvements in thawing material incars, and while particularly intended for thawing coal frozen in coalcars may be used for thawing any material that may be frozen in the car.

The usual practice in thawing coal or other material contained in carsis to inject steam into the mass of material by means of a pointed toolhaving apertures in its sides and connected to a steam hose, but thismethod is slow and wasteful of steam, since a considerable amount of thelatter simply rises through the space between the tool and the materialwithout penetrating and thawing the coal. llt has also been proposed. torun the cars into heated chambers and let them remain until the materialtherein has thawed out, but this method involves the construction ofspecial buildings, and at best requires considerable time for the heatto warm the entire mass of material.

lt is an object of the present invention to provide a construction inwhich steam may be supplied at a number of points throughout the body ofa car in position to penetrate the entire mass of material therein, sothat the latter `may be rapidly and uniformly thawed. This and otherobjects of the invention are attained by equipping the car with apractically indestructible system of pipes and valves, through whichsteam may be supplied from an external source. The valves are preferablylocated at various points throughout the bottom of the car, and areautomatically opened by the pressure of the steam so that nomanipulation is required, after the piping system has been connected toa source of steam supply. l

The conditions under which such a system will be `used are such that notonly is it essential that the elements of the system shall be simple,rugged and automatic, and aiiord a minimum opportunity for injury to andderangement vof the parts; but provision must be made for a selfcleaningand self thawing action of the system. To this end the system of thepresent invention is such that simple, standard, rugged andinterchangeable parts are used and provision is made for an initialcleaning and thawing blowout ofthe system followed by an automaticopening of the inlet valves under the pressure of the heating medium.Preferably, also the inlet valves controlling the passages into the carare restricted, with respect to the piping of the conduit system, so tocause the heating medium to flow into the frozen material at highvelocity and pressure.

The particular nature of the present invention will appear more clearlyfrom a description of a preferred embodiment thereof as shown in theaccompanying drawings in which Figure l is a plan view of a car; Fig. 2is an elevational section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; F ig. 3 is atransverse section along the line 3-3 of lfig` 1, and Fig. l is asectional view of the automatic valve.

The car shown in the drawings is of the ordinary steel gondola typeusedl for carrying coal, ore or other material, and comprise a centersill 1U and the usual holsters 11 for ,ipporting the body of the car,which, Vas is customary in constructions of this kind, is provided witha bottom 12 sloping from each end toward the center of the car and acentral sloping portion 13 which serves to deflect material in eitherdirection toward the doors le which are hinged at 15. The particular`construction of the car forms no part of the present invention, andhence need not be describedV in greater detail.

In accordance with the present invention, l provide on each side of thecar, and preferably attached to the end sills a pipe 16 running theentire length of the car. One end of each pipe is provided with a valve17, and a coupling adapted to be connected to a hose through which steammay be supplied from an external source. The other end of the pipe isclosed by a cap 18, and preferably the valves and couplings should bearranged at diagonally opposite corners ofthe car as shown most clearlyin Fig. 1. Each of the pipes 16 may be given a slight inclinationVtoward the center of the car, in order to provide for the drainage ofwater of condensation which may be discharged through a steam trap 19 ofany suitable construction.

It will be understood, however, that the steam traps may be located atany other appropriate point in the system.

Branch pipes 20 are tapped off of the main pipe 16 valong each side ofthe car, and at their ends these branch pipes are connected totransverse pipes 21 attached to the under side of the car bottom in anyconvenient manner, as by means of clamps 22 as shown in Fig. 1. ln thespace beneath the central sloping portion 13 of the bottom of the car isa transverse pipe 23 connected to the main pipes 16 on each side of thecar by vertical pipes 24. Branching off from the pipe 23 are short pipes25 which extend toward the sloping sides of this portion 13 of the carbottom.

For controlling the admission of the heating medium to the materialwithin the car, I provide automatic valves 26 of the construction shownin Fig. 4l, and which may be inserted in the various piges of the systemat convenient points as indicated to supply suiiicient heat to the massof material within the car. EachV of the valves comprises a standardcross 27 to which the pipes may be connected, or in case the' valve isused at theend of a pipe, a T may be employed or one of the outlets maybe closed with a suitable plug or cap. Into one outlet of the crossisfitted the special valvecasing 28 which is attached to the bottom ofthe car, preferably in such a manner that the upper end of this casingis flush with the floor of the car. The casing 28 is provided at itsupper end with a small valve seat 29, and coperating with this seat is avalveBO mounted upon the end a stem 31 which is guided in a spider 32located at the lower end of the casing 2S. The lower end of rod 31 isguided in a spider within a valve-seat fitting la inserted into the endof the casing 27. A spring 35 surrounding the upper end of the valvestem, and retained in place between the valve 30 and the spider 32 holdsthe valve 30 normally against its seat. Attached to the valve stem nearits lower end is second valve 36 which Vwhen the valve 30 is in itsnormal position is raised from its seat on the fitting 34. rlheconstruction of the automatic valve is Vsuch that when the steam orother fluid enters the union 27, it willV tend to drive out ll water ofcondensation, dirt and obstructions through the openings in the spider33, and to thaw out the valves, if they are frozen. The steam will beydischarged through this spider until its-pressure within In practice,the last named opening should be sufficiently small so that there willbe little or no tendency for material in the car to fall-into thisopening as it begins to be thawed under the inhuence of the steam.

Wlhen' a car provided with the improvement of the present inventioncontains a load of frozen material such as coal, the car will be run toa locality where a source of steam supply may be connected to one or theother of the main feed pipes 16. rlhe corresponding valve 17 is openedand steam allowed to enter the pipe system. After the initial blow-out,and when the pressure in each of the automatic valves reaches thepredeterminedamount for which the spring of the valve has been set, sayabout ten pounds, the valve will open and allow steam to enter the massof materialV at relatively high pressure, say seventy-or eighty pounds,gradually thawing the same as it works its way upward through the mass.lf during the thawing operation, or at any other time, water or dirtcollects in the automatic valve, it will drain out through the spider 33as soon as the steam pressure is cut off, so that the valve 36 is liftedfrom its seat, or will be blown out by the steam at the next operation.Any water of condensation which may accumulate in the pipes of thesystem will ultimately drain into the main feed pipes and be dischargedthrough the traps 19.

YWhile the apparatus has been described particularly in relation to acoal car and depending upon the use of steam as heating medium, it willbe understood that itis equally adapted for any kind of cars in whichmaterial that may become frozen is transported, and also instead ofusing steam any other suitable heating medium may be supplied to thepipe system. So far as the valves 26 are concerned, they may be locatedat any number of points as desired, and it is not intended that theirnumber or their location shall be limited by the showing in the figures.

I claim:

1. 1n a car equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, thecombination of a yheating medium conduit system and distribinsaidsystem-for controlling the admission of the heating medium into thelower 1nterior portion of the car, to thaw out material frozen therein.i

8. In a car equipped for thawing out ma- Cil terial frozen therein, thecombination of a heatingmedium conduit system mounted on the exterior ofthe car and distributed automatic valves in said system communicatingwith the lower :interior portion of the car for permitting the heatingmedium to be discharged into the body of the frozen material within thecar.

el. In a car equipped for thawing out ma terial frozen therein, thecombination of a plurality of casings mounted on the outside of the carand provided with ports communicating with the interior thereof, a valvein each casing for normally closing the port therein, pipes mounted onthe outside of the car and connected to said casings for supp lying aheating medium thereto, and means associated with each valve for openingthe same when the pressure of said medium reaches a predetermined value.

5. In a car equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, thecombination of a plurality of casings mounted on the outside of the `carand provided with ports communicating with the interior thereof, a valvein each casing adapted to cooperate with the port therein, a valve stemslidably mounted in said casing and to one end of which the valve isattached, a spring for holding said valve in position to close the port,pipes mounted on the outside of the car and connected to said ca'singsfor supplying a heating medium thereto, and means associated with eachvalve stem for overcoming the effect of said spring to open the valvewhen the pressure of said medium reaches a pre determined value.

6. In a car equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, thecombination of a heating-medium conduit system, and distributed'self-cleaning valves connected to the system and opening into theinterior of the car beneath the frozen material therein.

'7. In a car equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, thecombination of a heating-medium conduit system and distributedSelfcleaning valves connected to the system and opening into theinterior of the car beneath the frozen material therein, said valveshaving a blow-out discharge opening permitting an initial cleaningblowout upon the application of the heating medium to the system.

8. In a car equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, thecombination of a heating -medium conduit system, distributedself-cleaning valves connected to the system and opening into theinterior of the car beneath the frozen material therein, said valveshaving a blowout discharge opening permitting an initial cleaningblow-out upon the application of the heating 'medium to the system, andmeans adapted to open the passages into the car when the pressure of theheating medium in the valves reaches a predetermined value after theinitial blowout. Y

9. In a ca-r equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, aheating-medium conduit system mounted on the exterior of the car anddistributed valves having restricted velocity increasing outlet openingsinto the lower interior portion of the car.

10. In a car equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, aheating-medium conduit system mounted on the exterior of the car anddistributed normally closed valves having restricted velocity increasingoutlet openings into the lower interior portion of the car and meansactuated by the pressure of the heating medium for opening said valvesautomatically.

ll. In a 'car equipped for thawing out material frozen therein, aheating-medium conduit system mounted on the exterior of the car anddistributed valves having restricted velocity increasing outlet openingsinto the lower interior portion of the car and flush with the floorthereof.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

ARTHUR M. ALVORD.

